Samhain (All Hallow's Eve)
by alan713ch
Summary: Lydia could not shake the cold off. She was not the only one. But, according to Greenberg, she was the only one related to it. Episode 3 of my alternate Season 3B - see profile for previous works.
1. Prologue

"So, we met a couple weeks ago, and we oficially started dating last night when you ceremoniously took me to that new sushi place you wanted to try - which I found appalling, by the way, remind me to take you a true sushi place at some point..."

"Okay..."

"So I guess we can finally move into the important questions."

Alex leaned close to him and gave him a kiss. And not a small one either.

"Like what?"

"Hm... I don't know... why do you play lacrosse? Why do you hang out with Stilinski if he annoys the hell out of you...? How come your parents didn't bat an eye when I picked you up yesterday...? Who the hell is Greenberg?"

"Greenberg?"

Where the hell did that come from?

"Did you ask me that on purpose? Or are you just trying to kill the mood?"

Alex just chuckled a little.

"Well, it was to see what tripped you up, yes, but I have to ask - who is Greenberg? Finstock supposedly paired me with him for this Econ project but I went throught the roster and I couldn't find him. He's not even listed in the class' roll, which trust me, took me a lot of time to get - talking to the girl in the front desk scares me."

"Why? You talk to Lydia, that should make talking to everyone else easier."

"You don't have my scars."

"I think they are adorable."

Alex did back a little bit. He was still uncomfortable talking about his scars, even when he had shown him his old accident one. But it was true - they didn't compare. And he knew saying sorry would not cut it, so he just moved his hand through his boyfriend's hair. He knew he liked the touch.

"Greenberg's just there. He's part of the lacrosse team, he's in half my classes - but I mostly remember him from econ and lacrosse. He's this tall lanky kid, funny hair, always wobbly - he has lousy hand eye coordination, there's a reason why he's always a benchwarmer - a bit obssessed with academics, but not exactly good. You can say he's the average joe."

"Yeah, that's all nice and cool but who is he? I mean, do you have a picture or something?"

"Why would I have a picture of a guy I barely talk to?"

"I don't know - yearbook? Party? Sixth grade photography project?"

"I'm sure he's in the yearbook. There are copies in the library. But really, just look around in econ and you'll find him. We all know about Greenberg."

"That's what's spooky. Everybody knows about Greenberg. Nobody seems to know him."

And with that and a smile Alex sauntered off.

Danny did feel a bit uncomfortable after that. He pushed it to the back of his mind - Alex was probably just being antsy at being the new guy.

He didn't realize he almost crashed into Greenberg.

"Oh, hey, Greenberg! Interesting, I was just thinking about you!"

"Hm? Keep it in your pants, Danny."

"Haha, very funny - it's Alex, the guy I'm dating - Finstock paired you guys for the econ project?"

"Ah, yeah, he's not finding me in the rosters I suppose?"

"Yeah, what's up with that?"

"Administrative problem. Try wading through two years of high school facing the same problem."

"Ah, got'cha. So, do you need me to introduce you guys or something?"

"Nah, we'll be fine. I'll catch up with him."

Danny watched him leave, something odd about it. But he pushed it to the back of his mind - he had his own class to attend to. He still looked at Greenberg leave, though, like he was fascinated about something.

Maybe the fact that he cast no shadow.


	2. Lydia

"Hey, Lydia!"

Lydia didn't pay attention. The chill had changed from when she left her house to now that she was getting out of her car. Now it felt more alien, more metallic, like a knife sliding under her coat. She locked the car and hugged herself.

"Lydia?"

"Danny!"

She startled him. She startled herself - the cold was getting to her.

"Lydia, are you alright?"

"Hey guys!"

Alex was limping towards them. Danny smiled at the guy (boyfriend? She needed to know ASAP) but looked back at her concerned. Alex looked at her with the same expression in his face - accentuated more by the scars.

"Hey, is everything alright?"

"Yeah, yeah, I'm just cold."

Alex grabbed Danny's hand and motioned him a step back. He was trying to prevent Danny from crowding her.

Which is of course when the boys got off Roscoe (really, Stiles?) and went after her.

"Hey guys! How you doing in this fine Halloween morning?"

"Lydia, are you alright?"

Scott had been the first to reach her and when he placed his hand on her arm she suddenly felt better. She saw his eyes flash red for an instant but Stiles had been distracting Danny and Alex with his flailing so fortunately they didn't notice.

"I'm just cold, thanks. Let - let's go inside."

All the boys followed her inside, Stiles and Scott a bit too close to her. Neither Danny nor Alex commented on it, but she did see Alex stare for a little while. Allison was already inside getting some books from her locker.

"Hey guys! Lydia?"

Lydia looked at her alarmingly, hopefully Allison would change the subject before Danny or Alex asked something.

Whatever was going on was evidently getting to her pretty badly, if everybody was noticing.

"Did you do the Physics homework? I was having some trouble and I was wondering if you could explain a couple of the problems to me, maybe I'll be able to do them in French."

"Sure, no worries. Walk with me?"

"I was..."

"Going to walk with Isaac. You'll do that later. C'mon."

Lydia did see Isaac's face fall and Scott placed a hand on his shoulder. So Scott was tuned to their feelings now? Was that why he had almost jumped to her? Trying to comfort her? His eyes had flashed red alpha (though they didn't when he touched Isaac) so maybe it was one of his new powers. She just filed all the questions away and focused on the cold that would not leave, even inside the school.

"Lydia, what is it?"

"I don't know. Something's wrong. I'm cold, and it's not a normal cold - this feels like someone is touching me with the grind of a knife. I'm feeling it here, and I already stole a glance to the thermostat."

"Yeah, it's decent in here. It is cold outside but not that chilly. Do you think..?"

"Yes. I think it's the banshee in me trying to tell me something."

"Want to skip school to do research?"

"I want to, but Danny and Alex already saw us - and Alex is looking at me too much. He may ask questions."

"What do we care what he thinks?"

"He's good for Danny. I agree with Stiles - we should try and keep Danny as normal as possible."

"What do you want to do then?"

"Let's go to class. We'll use free period to talk about it."

Stiles, Scott and Isaac were already in the classroom. Scott pointed at the seat in front of him, at the right of Stiles, which was not the usual - she would usually sit behind the pair. Isaac was right to Scott and the seat in front of him was evidently for Allison, so she would be at the right of Lydia.

They were guarding her.

Allison just shrugged and sat down. Lydia did too, but stopped when she felt someone looking at him. For the first time in her life she paid attention to Greenberg, who was looking at her like she was the Angel of Death or something. Well, she was something, but how would he know.

"Everybody to your seats! Greenberg, stop staring at Martin, don't be a creep!"

Greenberg diverted his attention to the front but Lydia couldn't shake the feeling. She sat down and let Scott's feet touch her leg, because even such a little comfort was able to calm her a little bit.

Maybe she should've just skipped school with Allison.

Finstock was particularly vicious today, they all knew that. Every year for Halloween Finstock got particularly antsy, it was a legend around Beacon Hills. Maybe it was being a psychic and something related to Halloween - she could not dismiss the legends of the dead walking back as mere superstition now - so he might only be able to take it out by lashing out. But why was it so awful? Yes, the main target of his antics was still Greenberg but now Alex, Jared and even Danny were getting crap. And somehow he kept sideseeing the Pack, as if this was their fault.

Shit, maybe the Nemeton was amplifying whatever happened each year and that's why Finstock was so angry.

Not just that, but all the students were antsy themselves. Even with her Pack around she could feel them fidgeting, worried, looking at stuff they usually wouldn't look at.

Danielle, the girl Stiles mentioned was some girl's best friend, was the first to leave the room. Apparently she'd seen something, or someone - and hastily tried to get a hall pass. Finstock barely paid any attention to her. The pack, however, did.

"Scott, can you hear anything?"

"She's talking to someone. I can't hear who."

"Scott?"

Scott's head swiveled so fast she thought he was gonna have whiplash. Scott was now looking at Stiles like the world had ended or something.

"She said 'Heather'. She thinks she's talking to Heather."

"Heather who?" Lydia didn't remember that name.

"Heather? Are you serious?"

"Stilinski! McCall!"

"Er, Coach, I need to go to the bathroom!"

"Not now, McCall, it will look like you are stalking her!"

"Coach, I need to go to the bathroom!"

"Seriously, Martin? Seriously? Fine - GO! Get out of my face!"

She knew he wasn't that bad. Otherwise she would've already arranged a visit to her lawyer.

She left the room but Danielle was nowhere to be seen. She walked down the hallway to see if she had moved around the corners with no luck. She was turning around when she clashed into Greenberg.

"Greenberg! You scared me!"

"Lydia, what's going on?"

"What... what do you mean?"

"Don't play ditzy with me Lydia, the whole school knows it's a facade."

"I still don't know what you - "

"Lydia, for crying out loud, you are a banshee!"

Lydia was sure she turned positively white.

"How... how do you know?"

His expression could only be translated as -

"Really? You can't tell I'm a revenant?"

"No..."

"Look down."

"What?"

"Lydia, look down."

She did. She didn't see anything particular.

"What am I looking at?"

"Ever watched Doctor Who?"

That she did. But she was not going to admit it.

And then she gasped.

He had no shadow.

"What are you?"

"I told you, a revenant."

"You are a supercharged ghost? But those are usually meant to haunt and harass their cause of death! You are just a high school student!"

"I am harassing my cause of death. Sadly for me, the idiot is a powerful medium and instead of letting me go he's become attached to me so now not only do I have to harass him, I also need to get money, buy school supplies and pretend I have a home. And since I live in the graveyard, I'm the reason most of the lacrosse team gets sick every once in a while."

"A powerful medium... who?" She blinked at him. "No! He said he was a low level psychic!"

"That's what he thinks he is! He is so afraid of what he can do that he hasn't explored it. Of course, that means all his energy goes to mewhich means not only you, the banshee, can see me, but the whole freaking town! Seriously, I died thirty years ago, people are supposed to know me as the dead kid! Instead it seems that every year a massive reset button happens and I'm just Greenberg, the sophomore! Somehow they are all calling me a junior now which is an improvement but I still don't know why."

"And what's going on?"

"Heather, the girl Danielle saw?"

"I didn't see her - I came out looking for Danielle because Scott heard her mention that name - and from the look Stiles gave Scott I assumed she was something important."

"She's dead, she was one of the sacrifices Ms. Blake offered, she's a ghost and haunting Danielle now. Why today? She's been dead over a month."

"Ghosts? Is that why I feel so cold?"

"Lydia, you are the genius, catch up!"

"We need the others..."

"The others? What will a couple of puppies, a psychotic murderer and an ADD kid be able to do?"

Lydia went and slapped him.

"What? That hurt!"

"Do not insult my Pack, Greenberg."

"So it is true, you guys are Pack. Wow."

"What do you know about that?"

"Nothing, I'm doomed to be alone, remember? A ghost, meant to wander this Earth until stupid Bobby decides to let me go. I have the feeling that he won't die in his youth, no matter how much he drinks at night."

"OK, that's creepy. You are coming with me and the others and tell us what you know."

"We should do it fast."

"Why?"

"Because you've been glowing ever since I saw you today, and with every second you glow more..."

Lydia looked at herself, very sure that she was not glowing.

"I don't know what you are talking about."

"You can't see it?"

"No."

"Shit, it's probably something related to the ghosts then. I hope more glowing doesn't mean more ghosts - or more dangerous ones."


	3. Stiles

"Scott, what is it?"

"I can't hear Lydia or Danielle anymore."

"Stilinski! McCall! Don't make me put you in detention today. Just don't."

The look Finstock gave them was not irate or angry - it was pleading. Scott and Stiles immediately fell back to their seats, his own feet tapping the floor continuously. A couple minutes later Lydia came back with Greenberg following her, and Coach proceeded to rant at him instead of them.

"Wait a second, when did Greenberg leave?"

"Stiles!"

Stiles shut up, but looked at Lydia who answered with a very crossed look. She immediately took out her cellphone and started texting. She regretted it immediately, when she realized none of them had their phone in vibrator or silence mode and Finstock looked at them with murder in his eyes. After a bit of squirming from Stiles he ignored them and started scribbling on the board. The four of them got their cellphones out and looked at the message, which seemed to be identical.

'Stiles, don't flail or scream. Guys, we seem to have a ghost problem.'

"A ghost - a ghost problem?" The second time came out as a whisper. Lydia just side eyed him. He immediately silenced his phone and started tapping.

'What do you mean we have a ghost problem?'

'That. Greenberg says that Danielle saw Heather and that's why she left - we couldn't find her. He's a revenant.'

All four of them immediately looked at Greenberg, who cringed at the amount of attention. But for their benefit he extended his arm and yes, there was no shadow. Stiles immediately looked for Greenberg's phone number and realized he didn't have it. He mouthed at Greenberg but Coach decided to have another of his tirades and the kid just ignored him. They waited until they got out of the class - they skipped second period and followed Lydia straight to the bleachers. Greenberg was already waiting for them there.

"So, Beacon Hills High pack, it's a pleasure that someone finally paid attention to me. Greenberg, your local revenant."

"Dude, what the hell? You've been a revenant all this time?"

"And these are the guys who are supposed to know what's going on?"

"Watch it, buddy."

"What can you do, kill me? I'm dead."

"You two, stop! Greenberg, why do you insist that I have to do something with this?"

"Because you are a banshee, you commune with the dead. Besides, you keep shining like a lighthouse, which has only happened today - and the day of the recital - so I'm assuming you did something that is allowing ghosts to wander around town."

They heard a car crash in the distance. Scott immediately made an attempt to go but Stiles and Isaac held him.

"Guys!"

"Scott, priorities."

"Well, thank you Greenberg, but your logic is flawed. First, I have no idea what you mean by glowing. Second, if I glowed during the recital that's because someone was going to die - did I glow the day I was at the mall a couple of weeks ago?"

"I don't remember seeing you - were you with Danny and the new kid?"

"We need another point of data. Third, I have no idea how to control my powers - whatever powers I have as a banshee. Fourth YOU ARE AN ASSHOLE!"

"Guys!" Scott spoke with the Alpha inflection and everyone, even Greenberg, looked back at him. "We need to calm down. So far we've only heard of Danielle seeing ghosts, right?"

"I don't think so, Scott..."

They all looked back at the school buildings. Apparently there were people screaming, others crying and some were running amok. Stiles was sure he could hear animals in the forest being perturbed as well. The sirens could be heard in the background, and he wondered who had been involved in the car accident.

"This is not small. I can feel it - ghosts just keep coming. I used to be the only one - and the chick that got halved, but she moved on a while ago - now it's almost like a torrent. They are coming."

"Can you pinpoint a place of origin or something?"

"What do I look like, a freaking magic GPS?"

"Well, you don't look human."

"And you look like a puppy."

"We need someone with experience - "

"Deaton?"

"Who else?"

"We're taking the jeep - it's better if we stick together for now. Greenberg, can you meet us there?"

"What use would I be? Who's Deaton?"

"The vet. He's my boss and he's also a druid."

"A druid? That's a new one. I'll try - if Bobby gets antsy he's gonna keep me nearby."

"Who are you to Finstock?"

"We were friends back then. Doesn't matter now, go see your shaman or whatever."

They all went into Roscoe. Scott immediately called his mom and Stiles barked at Isaac to call his dad while Allison checked in on her father.

"Lydia, where's your mom?"

"She went to San Francisco again, she's getting ready for when grandma arrives."

"Grandma? Your grandma? Why?"

Lydia looked at him like she had offended him.

"Stiles, she's my grandma, she can drop to visit every once in a while."

"Yeah, well, she hasn't been in town since your eight year old party. Lydia, I was at your eight year old party. I remember."

"What are you guys talking about?"

"Nothing, Allison, you don't wanna know."

"Guys, look..."

Scott motioned around them. Apparently people were seeing way too many things, for there were a lot of people running around, screaming, crying, or flat out scared. Isaac told Stiles that he couldn't get hold of his father, and Stiles didn't question it - it looked like he was going to be busy. At least Mrs. McCall was on alert now - she hadn't seen any ghost of her own yet - in case the hospital got freaky. By the time they arrived to Deaton's both Scott and Isaac jumped out of the jeep and ran straight ahead - Greenberg was at the door gesturing wildly.

"Guys, c'mon! He's facing a ghost as well!"

Stiles, Allison and Lydia - who was starting to shiver - entered immediately and they found Scott trying to talk to Deaton, who was talking to the ghost of Ms. Morell.

"Dr. Deaton, please stop, she's not there."

"Er, Scott? She's there?"

"What?"

"You can see me?"

"Yeah."

"So can I."

"Well, you I was expecting since you are a Wailing Girl, but why can you see me, Stiles?"

"I don't know. What's going on?"

"Family business."

"Marin..."

"Alan, shut up. You've been a lousy emissary to these kids, no need for you to dig yourself deeper!"

"Hey, that's not nice!"

"Guys? What's going on? Why can't I come in?"

"The mountain ash barrier, Greenberg - how did you come in if he can't?"

"I'm attached to Alan, I am haunting him - that kid belongs to someone else."

"Why are you haunting him now? I thought you moved on when we talked that night."

"Well, he's still a lousy emissary, why should he still be alive if he is doing nothing!"

"Hey, that's not true! He's started teaching me stuff..."

"Like what? Are you already capable of forming a mountain ash circle on command? Can you summon a layer of mist to try and disorient your opponents? Do you know the forty different versions of aconite and each of their effects on werewolves?"

"No..."

"See my point?"

"They are children, Marin! Do you want them to live like us? Running away, until we were taken by the Hales? Why do you think I didn't go after Laura when she left, because I was afraid? Yes, but not for me - I've never been afraid to die, but for them! They deserve to live better than we did. I won't be part of their demise."

"But they are already doomed! They can't run away from it - the Nemeton calls for them, soon it will start giving them back and it'll be no time before they are judged. Do you want them to fail? Do you want them to face the consequences of not harnessing its power?"

"I want them to live!"

"You are not doing a good work at showing that, Alan!"

"You two, stop! You are driving me crazy!"

Stiles didn't mean to be rude, or angry, but it was the truth. They all looked at him except for Lydia, who kept looking at Morrell.

"We need to find out what's going on and how to stop it, we can give Deaton a Job Review when we are safe and sound if we ever go back to safe and sound because, honestly? I don't even remember what safe and sound is. What do we know about these ghosts? We have one right here that we can dissect."

"You are incomplete."

Morrell looked at Lydia quizzically.

"What do you mean?"

"Stiles? Can you see it?"

"It's so weird that only you two can see her..."

"Guys, I'm still outside!"

"Not now, Greenberg!"

"You were the ones who wanted my help!"

"What am I looking for, Lydia?"

"She looks incomplete, like there are little pieces missing..."

"Allison, fetch Greenberg, he may be able to see it."

"Dr. Deaton, can I?"

"Go ahead."

Isaac removed his jacket and put it around Deaton, trying to stop his shivering. Greenberg came after Allison. Stiles was still looking at Morrell, trying to see whatever Lydia was seeing.

"Greenberg, do you see what Lydia is seeing? That Morrell is incomplete?"

"Not rea - wait, yeah. It's like a portion of you didn't come back."

Stiles tried to focus. He was training to feel magic around him, damnit! He needed to be better than the ADD kid.

When he opened his eyes again, he could see it. Like a trail of dust, and little portions missing. Like she was behind a broken window or a stained glass.

"You are not this harsh. You are not this agressive."

"What?"

"Are you saying she's a construct?"

"No - she's a ghost. Trust me, I know ghosts."

"But she's incomplete. That's what the spell is doing - is bringing the dead from the beyond, but since no spell can truly resurrect anyone, they are not coming complete from beyond the veil."

"And if they are good enough practitioners, they can force what the ghost will leave behind - I'm assuming all good qualities are left behind, and all bad ones come through..."

"Making it true torture to anyone who is facing any of these ghosts."

"Basically all the town is facing these ghosts!"

"So we know it's a spell?"

"Has to be. The time and the modus operandi are too suspicious. There's probably a summoning talisman somewhere in town. You need to find it and destroy it."

"Well, Alan, look at yourself all helpful - does it really hurt you that much to do it?"

"Marin, please don't."

"Any idea how we find it? How to destroy it?"

"Not to destroy it, but maybe how to find it. Let the darkness in your hearts guide you. The darkness in your heart is a price for death, this is a spell of death, they should resonate in the same frequence. If you find it you can bring it here so we can try and destroy it."

"Is... is that even safe?"

"What do you mean?"

Stiles was the one to answer that question.

"The darkness. I've - I've tried to keep it out. Whenever I let it in I feel bad, real bad. Is it safe to try and resonate it to the spell?"

"To be honest, I don't know, but I don't have any other ideas. As much as fiction has romanticized location spells they don't work like that. It's the only thing we can do now, particularly with so little time."

"I'll go."

"Scott!"

"I need you guys to keep the town in check."

"No - you'd have to do it together. The darkness is not complete in any of you - it has to be the three of you."

"We are really going to work on that job review, Deaton."

"Guys, we better hurry."

"Isaac?"

"I'm starting to see Mrs. Morrell now. And the smell of cold and decay I've been smelling for a while now? It's coming from her."

"You saying the ghosts are becoming solid?"

"We are in trouble."


	4. Scott

The ghosts were becoming too real, too close. He could even smell them. When they finally were able to snap Deaton out of his reverie he was almost completely gone - the guilt and anger in his eyes only told them that he wanted to go.

He almost feared he had lost him.

But now at least they knew it was magic. Magic had been used to thin the veil even more (or so had Deaton phrased it) so dead spirits could roam freely and contact them.

Scott had tried to reach his mom, The Sheriff, Chris Argent, Danny, even Alex, hoping that none of them had to face a ghost such as Mrs. Morrell was for Deaton. He knew Stiles and Allison were thinking the same, walking by his side.

He needed to finish this as soon as possible. At least all his monsters were alive.

Problem was, he had no clue of what he was looking for. The only clue he had according to Deaton was the darkness in his heart. He didn't want to let it take over. He already was too afraid of everything as it was.

And yet, he knew it had been the thing to bring them here. To the old Hale house.

In the front porch a beautiful girl was waiting for him, a tall brunette dressed in jeans and a leather jacket. He knew who she was, he had seen her naked not a long time ago. When he had dug her body up. Half of it.

Why were they the ones to talk to Laura Hale? Derek and Cora were gone, and he had never talked to the Hales before he became a werewolf. They had no ties to them, like Deaton to his sister.

Except that she only beckoned them and walked inside. With that gesture he understood.

They were not to meet Laura. They were to meet the Hales.

As the Alpha who had claimed their territory.

But then, why Allison? Why Stiles?

Why the darkness?

Outside the smell of the preserve engulfed him. He entered, expecting to smell the scorched wood and the remnants of gunpowder from all the shots that had been fired inside. Or at least some of the wolfsbane Lydia had used to resucitate Peter.

He definitely was not expecting to smell a pot roast in the oven, or the flowers in the foyer smelling like fresh cut lavender, or ashes in the fireplace that was burning with real wood.

Or seeing the house in its former glory, a symphony of woods and rugs and warmth and power.

The house itself felt powerful.

They were waiting for him in the living room. Eleven, he counted. A child barely eight years old, smiling at him with a gap in his teeth. Twins, a couple years younger than him, mischievous. A girl a couple years older than him, evaluating him with her sight. Adults, men and women, all looking at him with different expressions, varying from disdain to mockery to wonder to indifference. What seemed to be the grandmother of the family, a grin in her lips, like she knew a secret none other knew. And in the position of power, Talia Hale.

Scott had heard from Cora and Derek about her. How she had been respected in many circles for her power, her fair judgement, her ability to bring people together. And he could see that everything was true and more. He could feel her power irradiating from her body, even if she was just sitting down, looking at him like his mom did whenever he came home late.

Inside he felt exactly like whenever he faced his mom after coming home late.

"Scott McCall. Allison Argent. Stiles Stilinksi. Welcome."

"Ms. Hale. Laura. I apologize, I do not know anybody else."

"That's alright, boy, it's not like you knew us from before. Call me Grandma Thea. On your right there's Benjamin, Felicia, Rose and little Jack. On your left you have Randall, Phillip, Maria, Caterina and Anastasia."

Each person nodded when their name was announced.

"Thea, may I remind you my wife is the alpha?"

"Randall, she is still my mother."

The old lady stuck her tongue to the man to Talia's right, who looked back in complete defiance. Laura, like most of the present, just rolled her eyes so hard it seemed almost audible. Talia never looked away from Scott.

"Would you like to take a seat, children?"

"Er, as beautiful as this looks, Ms. Hale, I am pretty sure we are hallucinating so we would either be sitting on air or in chairs that would collapse under our weight. I'd rather stay standing."

All of the present laughed at that. He even heard Grandma Thea say something about Stiles not being as stupid as Derek made it look like.

It's a melodic sound. He had never felt he was not loved (except for when the darkness crept in his nightmares) but now he finally understood what Derek had lost in the fire. Why he had been so hell bent into forming a new pack, and why he hadn't taken well when Scott rejected him so often.

Because all he really wanted was a family.

He may still not like the man, but at least now he understood him.

"He still blames himself, doesn't he?"

Laura had directed the question at him. He just nodded. Stiles needed to elaborate.

"Of course he still blames himself about it, don't you guys haunt him? He's always broody and moody and slamming me onto walls and then he lost Erica and Boyd and then of course Jennifer happened so YES he still blames himself about it. About everything."

"Stiles..."

Allison had seen it first, the tear falling from Talia's cheek. The way the expression had changed in Laura's face. Even Grandma Thea was no longer grinning. They were all mourning the fact that just like them Derek Hale had died that awful night seven years ago. The Derek Hale that had been that is.

"Sorry. I'm sorry. It's just... it's sad to look at him, you know. To know him, what little he has let us in, and see him suffer. See him mourn endlessly. I've wanted to ask, was he ever happy? Was he ever really like Scott, like Peter said? Because I'm sure he was lying a lot when he was telling us that story about the girl, Paige, so I can't trust him on that. Did he really got Ennis to bite her?"

"No. That was Peter's story. That's when he lost it - when he lost the girl that was his first love. There used to be a time when he was only foolish and reckless, but not evil."

"I find that hard to believe to be honest. "

"Stiles..."

"What? You find it hard to believe too, I can see it in your eyes!"

Allison and Scott sighed, while most of the Hales looked at them curiously. Except for Grandma Thea and Laura, who seemed like they were trying very hard not to choke on their laughter. One of the guys in the table - Phillip - looked to the girl on his right - Maria - and pointedly asked her something, in a low voice that he couldn't actually hear, but her body language told him that while the answer was affirmative, she also didn't believe it. He wondered what was going on.

"Speaking of Derek, why us? I mean, why are you haunting us, instead of him, or Cora? Is it because they are gone?"

"No, Scott. We are not haunting you. As a matter of fact, we are not haunting anyone."

"Deaton said that what the spell the witches did was basically to allow ghosts to haunt people by letting them crossover."

"That's right. Not just that, but the way the spell was cast it's not supposed to affect you. They want to see you squirm while all your loved ones have to face their ghosts from their past. It's a way to see how powerful you are."

"Oh my god, dad, he'll see mom, I need to call him" all three of them tried to get their cellphones and call their parents, but none of them had it in their pockets "Wait, where's my cellphone? Wait, the spell was not supposed to affect us?"

"Then why are we seeing you?"

"They made the spell so no ghost will haunt you. But they did thin the veil down enough that we could use our own magic and bring you to our little slice of heaven. We simply turned the spell against them and since the Nemeton recognized our intentions as good for you it used its pull to bring you to us."

"Wait, bring us to your little slice of heaven? Are we dead? Am I dead? Oh my god, my dad's gonna kill me when he finds out I'm dead."

"You are not dead, children, you are just unconscious in the porch."

At the sound of her words, all three of them actually sat down on the nearest couch.

"Why?"

"We wanted to meet you. Personally, not through Derek's prayers which are horribly biased and seem to be more inclined to claim that you two boys are morons and you darling are too dangerous to even be alive. Then again my son was always a horrible judge of character. Otherwise he wouldn't have fucked that Argent bitch and we would still be alive."

Scott gaped at her. Somehow she had managed to say all that swearing and still look marvelously royal while doing it.

"So, let's meet. The pot roast should be done by now. Randall, Phillip, why don't you go and get everything ready?"

"Er, is this wise? People are suffering because of the witches spell."

"Ah, so sweet, and yet it's good that you are worried about everyone else. But time-space continuum acts different here: we have time."

"How long will we be unconscious?"

"Not long, girl. Nothing that would be considered dangerous: after all, you only fell asleep."

"Did we?"

"What else would you call this, a food coma?"

She hadn't even finished saying it when they were suddenly seating in the dining room, a feast in front of their eyes.

"If you can make food appear out of nowhere, why go with the theatrics of having stuff in the kitchen?"

"I am a fully trained chef, sweet girl. Part of my heaven is to be able to cook what I want whenever I want it."

"So you all went to heaven. Are in heaven. We are in heaven with you right now."

"Yes, Stiles. You don't mind that we call you Stiles, right?"

"No, I much prefer it, thank you. OK, I get that you wanted to meet us. Why us? Why not just Scott, since he's the Alpha?"

"If this had been only a meeting between alphas it would've been only between Scott and Mom. That would've been boring."

"Besides, it's quite obvious that he's an alpha because of you. You two were the ones that kept him from going Omega, giving him a pack. It all grew up from there."

"Yeah, that's a question I have - how did you guys do it? How did you keep him from going Omega?"

"Er... we don't know? I mean, we didn't do anything special, no chanting or sacrificing virgin blood or anything. Right, Scott?"

Scott frowned. He knew Stiles was joking, but he wanted to give a good answer to the Hales. To him it was pretty obvious how had Stiles and Allison kept him from going omega, from becoming a loner trapped in his own mind, but putting it into words that didn't sound ridiculous was much more difficult.

"I'd say it was because Stiles and I have never done anything apart from each other. Ever since we met we've done everything together: homeworks, classes, teams, sports, games, finding out what kind of girls we like, finding out what kind of food we hate, everything. And I was in love with Allison at that moment. So instead of going within my mind, which is what I wanted to do to keep the wolf from reaching out to Derek, I just reached out to them. To Stiles, to Allison. I guess it also helped that she was my anchor during that time. And well, we had to act like a team, like a pack, if we wanted to reach to the bottom of whatever was going on with Jackson and trying to defend Lydia from Derek and his pack. And then Isaac came to me instead of Derek and according to Deaton that's when it all started."

"Lydia, the banshee?"

"Yes."

"Will you tell her that I'm sorry? I tried really hard to keep Peter from doing what he did, I truly did, but he had attached himself to her mind. No matter how hard I tried I could not stop him. I don't even know if she heard me that night, when he finally won her over. I tried to reach her too, but she was gone."

"Why were you trying to stop him?"

"Because what he did is not natural. I mean, I don't even know who he is or how will he be when finally dies. Think of it as Voldemort: whatever he did to come back left him incomplete, so if he wasn't a complete bastard evil creeper which he was, mind you, I saw him stalking you and stuff, well, now he is, courtesy of his little magic ritual."

"So, if he comes at us?"

"Go ahead and defend yourselves. It's up to you what to do with him."

Scott nodded at Talia. He hadn't done anything about him because Peter hadn't done anything against them yet, but he knew that the man was bidding his time. Never had he been a man without a plan, not even when Cora was dying from mistletoe poisoning. There was always an endgame to be reached, a goal to be achieved, and he had the patience to wait for it.

He would not kill him, unless it was completely necessary.

She nodded back at him, like she had given his approval for something else.

Maybe this whole affair was a test to him, a way for her to determine if the territory was in good hands.

"So, Scott. How do you feel about being a werewolf?"

"Besides the trauma that it was to go through the first transformations? I'm at peace with it. I mean, I didn't want it, I didn't know what was going on and I tried to kill Stiles several times before I got a hang of it. As a matter of fact, if it weren't for him I would have killed him at some point because, and I'm sorry to say it this way, Derek sucks as a teacher."

"Nobody ever saw him taking that career path, son, don't worry about it."

"Kind of a problem when my life was in line, don't you think?"

"Well, he does care about you. He may have been maiming you and mangling you but with no intention to kill."

"So he's Dobby?"

"Who?"

"Harry Potter, grandma, we saw that movie?"

"The little wizard kid?"

"Yeah."

"Thank god they didn't do the werewolves. The way they were written in the books was awful."

"They did, mother, we just died before we could watch the movie."

"Oh."

"What about you, Stiles? How are you liking your life, now?"

Laura did seem a bit too interested in Stiles this whole time. She looked at him, grinned at him, like she knew a secret she wouldn't tell anyone.

"I don't know. It's too dangerous, things keep popping up again and again and again and we can't seem to be able to do anything about it. How did you do it? How did you manage to keep everything at bay?"

"We were an established pack, Stiles. We had a couple of centuries on our back, and we had strategy and resources at our feet. We also had been approved, so there was a certain degree of respect from all supernatural creatures. Your Aunt did much more than destroy a family of werewolves, my dear, she upset a great mystical balance that was in place here."

"I know. I've heard"

"Approved? What do you mean by approved?"

"What mystical balance?"

"Does this mean that you were approved by the Nemeton as well? Then why did we restart it?"

"Not by the Nemeton, no. The Nemeton had been a beacon of supernatural energy and wars had been fought for the dominace of this territory." Grandma Thea's voice was deep and dark now, not the choked laugh that it was before. "The first Hales were strong werewolves and respected members of the migratory movement, so they managed to settle among humans and slowly started calming the territory. When we were fully established and other supernatural creatures were wary of attacking us, but willing to interact and be part of the community, we were visited by a higher power in order to gain legitimacy as the guardians of this territory. It approved us after several trials, and hid the signal of the Nemeton allowing it to wither away so we could actually live in peace. By erradicating every single Hale your aunt didn't just got rid of a few werewolves - she removed the seal from the Nemeton, which yes, had already woken up thanks to Derek, but it was still a weak sapling. Now that the seal is no longer upon it, everything that can take a drink from its power and more will show up. Until you get someone as powerful to be your evaluator, but that would be scary to think of."

"I'm sure if my aunt had known she would not have taken such a risk."

"You know that's not true, sweet girl."

Scott felt Allison's sadness. He didn't even need to look at her.

"Scary? Why, who was the evaluator back then?"

"Death itself."

A light breeze went through the room, turning off the candles that adorned the table. Scott immediately tried to pin point the source, but it had come from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. Besides, they were supposed to be in heaven: a breeze had to be voluntarily summoned and from the looks of all the Hales, it hadn't been.

"Death itself?"

"Death itself. Which means that unless Death decides to come back again, nothing less than a god will come to evaluate you."


	5. Isaac

It was too cold. It was colder that it had ever been. He kept running trying to get warmer, but it was impossible.

He saw it first at school. Kids suddenly crying, talking about dead grandmas and grandpas or weeping about lost pets. And then he saw those grandmas and grandpas wandering around school.

The smell betrayed them. Before that morning he didn't know what a ghost smelled like, but now he knew. They smelled of cold and decay.

But that had been the tip of the iceberg. It seemed that whatever hell had been unleashed it affected as many residents of Beacon Hills as possible. Past regrets. Missed connections. Lovers lost.

When they had reached Deaton he was already lost talking to the ghost of Marin Morell. It had been Stiles who had managed to talk to her and Scott to talk to him out of it, but the damage was done. He could no longer look at them in the eye. He just told them that the darkness would guide them - because darkness attracts darkness, apparently - to the origin of the spell. So he and Lydia stayed back to look after him. But then he felt the cold.

Isaac knew what it meant. If he was to be affected - and he couldn't just go ahead and say he wouldn't, he was smarter than that - he needed to act before it happened. He knew he would not be able to face him and therefore had very little time. He wouldn't be able to protect Deaton. He wouldn't be able to protect Lydia. He could even hurt them. So he ran. He ran as fast as he could. Even if someone screamed after him.

He ran towards his Alpha - Scott would know what to do. Even if he had no idea what he was doing, between him and Stiles a plan would come out. Well, mostly Stiles.

"Isaac!"

Isaac kept running. Maybe if he ran fast enough he'll be able to run away from him.

The problem was that the ghost of his father was already in front of him, in the middle of the woods where he had never taken him.

"What is it, Isaac? Aren't you happy to see me?"

Isaac couldn't help but step back, flinching. His father was always kind before he would actually hit him, so this particular behavior was not surprising or encouraging at all. But before such words were always accompanied by a sneer or cold indiference at most. Right now Isaac was seeing actual concern in his father's eyes, a little light that he had forgotten existed behind those glasses.

"Isaac?"

"Dad?"

The wolf inside him was snarling and growling and he felt compelled to bare his teeth, but the human wanted to reach out and grab the hand his father had held out for him. It was a small gesture that he used to do when he was young and he would trip everywhere and Camdem would laugh at him but his dad would always hold out his hand so he could get back up. Ever after his brother's departure to the military the gesture disappeared, and the nightmares began.

"Isaac. It really is you."

"What... what do you mean?"

"I... when I was looking for you, I was looking for that little light that you have, that feels so much like your mother. And it's there. It's just that... there's something else in there, an animal."

"My wolf..."

"Your wolf? What do you mean your wolf?"

"You don't know?"

His father's ghost kept walking towards him, the wolf growling increasing with each step he took. Isaac stayed in place, too afraid to go to his father, but too curious to try and run away.

"I've been dead for six months, Isaac."

"Aren't ghosts supposed to look onto the living or something?"

"That is something I am not able to do."

Isaac remained in place. His father kept coming closer, smiling. The wolf snarls kept getting louder.

"What do you mean, your wolf?"

"I... I'm a werewolf."

"What? What do you mean you're a werewolf?"

"Exactly that, Dad. I'm a werewolf. I grow claws and howl at the moon once a month. No big deal."

"No big deal, Isaac? Are you listening to yourself?"

"It's alright. I wanted it."

"You wanted it? Why on Earth would you want to be a werewolf?"

Isaac froze into place. The answer - the real answer - he couldn't say.

"I wanted to feel more powerful."

"More powerful, Isaac? And why is that?"

The wolf stopped snarling, taking an attack stance. Isaac recoiled back from the hand that Camdem Lahey Sr. had extended towards him.

"Because of you, dad."

"Because of me? I... I don't understand? Why me?"

"Because... Because of what you did to me, dad..."

"Because of what I did? What did I do, Isaac?"

His father had come too close. His wolf was ready to attack. He was ready to run.

"What did I do Isaac? I just wanted you to be the best..." Isaac believed him for a moment, when his dad just wanted to caress his cheek. But the concerned expression morphed into anger and he felt the cold hand slap him. "Is it wrong that I wanted you to be your best? To try and make you worth of something, you little rascal? Is this how you pay me, by being afraid of me?"

Isaac tried to duck but the moment was so familiar to his father that he just kicked him instead. The wolf growled at the ghost that tried to hurt his host.

"Is that it? You will growl at me? At your father? Are you insane? Are you stupid?"

The wolf realized that the ghost had dominance over his host - the host still feared it, they hadn't merged completely - and he would bow to the ghost. So in a movement that would surely be questioned by his Alpha the wolf started to run. Sometimes you have to run for your survival.

"Isaac!"

His dad was too angry, but Isaac felt the same way he felt his first full moon, and he let himself feel like that. Maybe as a wolf he wouldn't be thinking about the horrors his father did alive, and was bringing back from the dead.

"Don't run away, you miserable failure! Didn't I teach you to face your problems? To stand up for yourself?"

The revenant could transport easily: no matter how much or in what direction the wolf run it would always find its way to face it. He tried backing out but there it was again, waiting for his human to confront him. Isaac could no longer keep the wolf out - all he could do was scream in terror. So his father won and punished him for being a little ungrateful shit who could not appreciate everything his father did to keep him alive, to keep him well, to teach him how to be a man of society. The wolf whimpered and whined but it could not do anything. Isaac was hit once, twice, like all the times he had been before. At some point his father - the revenant - grabbed him by his hair and started dragging him. Isaac screamed in pain - it meant the fridge, and he couldn't go in again, not anymore.

'You're his. You're hers.'

The blood was trickling from his hands. The leaves rustled, the branches snapping under his weight. Almost as if voices could be heard.

'Mother's.'

'She'll be sad if you die.'

'We can help.'

'Summon.'

'Someone. Anyone.'

Allison. Scott. Please.

'Not them.'

'Not her son.'

'Not his huntress.'

'Not your alpha.'

'They are not here.'

'They are beyond her reach.'

'We cannot bring them.'

The wolf inside him howled. It was true - he could not feel his alpha anymore. He wasn't there. He had abandoned him.

Just like Camdem did so long ago.

'The soldier.'

'She can get him.'

'We can bring him.'

'Think of him.'

What was this torture? Had he done so wrong the same woods he was being dragged on were mocking him? He had never insulted them - he had  
never walked them before becoming a wolf. Why were they destroying him? Wasn't relieving his worst fears enough?

"Oh, shut up! You think crying makes any good? You think being a miserable little shit is going to help you in life? Aren't you supposed to be a big bad werewolf? All I see is a shit-assed pile of bones that is worth nothing! So, SHUT UP!"

"Why don't you shut up?"

Isaac opened his eyes, feeling the rustle of wind where his father was standing him. Was. He no longer felt his hair being pulled or his body being dragged.

"Isaac!"

He was hallucinating. He could swear he could hear his brother's voice.

He could swear he could see his brother's face.

"Isaac, Isaac, come on Iz, look at me, it's alright, it's alright!"

Isaac blinked as Camdem came to his level, in that squat position that Isaac always found difficult. Camdem slapped him on the cheeks several times until he realized it was true and had to smack him away.

"Cam, stop! Stop it!"

"There you are, Iz."

"But... how? No... not you... not you, please, not you..."

"Why, aren't you pleased to see me?"

"The spell brings the worst of the ghosts - I can't deal if I taint your memory..."

"No. The spell didn't bring me because I didn't harbor any ill to anyone. Something else brought me here. If you ask me, I think it was you."

"Me? I can't do that - I'm just a werewolf!"

"Yeah, nice gig you got there, you tough little shit, you have to depilate once a month or what?"

"Oh, shut up!" Isaac started sobbing again, crying with snot like the little kid Camdem used to take care of was. "It's you. It really is you... Camdem, I - I missed you so much, I need you so much!"

Camdem hugged him. Unlike the touch of his father, cold and rotten, his was warm and plentiful.

"I know. I'm sorry Iz - I'm sorry I never came back. I'm sorry I left you alone - I tried to stay, you know, but you couldn't hold me anymore. In your heart. But I'm here now. I don't know for how long, but I'll stay as long as I can."

"I can't do this alone, Cam, and now I can't feel Scott - "

"Hey, your Alpha is meeting with the head honchos right now. He'll be back. You are not alone."

"What?"

"Doesn't matter - don't think of him gone, think of him with you, think of the girl I've been seeing with you - what's the deal with that? I've seen the looks you give your alpha."

"You've seen?"

"Yeah - I've kept an eye on you. Couldn't do much about it, but at least I've been looking at you."

"Then why he...?"

"Dad? That's a piece of shit rotting in hell, of course he can't watch."

"Dad?"

"Yeah, no matter how good you were, not regretting beating the crap out of your son may land you a permanent gig in the pit."

"I'm sorry..."

"Hey, hey, not your fault. You are good, Iz, you are great. You just need to remember that."

Camdem's hug shifted in stance. Whatever little warm he had given him was displaced by a cold gust and the smell of decay.

"And Iz? Right now I need you to run."


	6. Danny

"Danny, what's going on?"

"I have no idea, but I'm pretty sure it's not good."

They were walking hand in hand down the hallway. People were freaking out at what seemed to be sights and sounds but they couldn't see anything. Finstock was yelling 'Rickie!' like he was looking for someone and he was almost sure he saw someone running to hug something that wasn't there.

Danny was starting to suspect magic was involved and whatever magic it was it was definitely not pretty.

"We should get out of here."

Alex nodded, grabbing his cane.

"Anywhere in particular?"

"I don't know. We can go to my house - I'm pretty sure telling my mom that half the school is losing their mind would be a good excuse to have my boyfriend over."

"Is it safe? Would this... whatever this is affect her? Affect us? Is this some form of collective hallucinations? Or massive hysteria?"

"I don't know! Why do you look at me like I know?"

"You've lived here longer than I?"

"Fair point."

"I feel like I walked into Night Vale."

"Don't, just don't."

Both of them kept walking. Cellphones were ringing now - parents checking on their children - or ghosts using the electromagnetical waves? Alex kept limping but in the hustle he seemed to move faster, like the limp wasn't that bad - Danny couldn't hear the tapping of the cane amidst all the noise. Before they could get to the parking lot Alex stopped.

"I'm cold. Danny, is it getting cold?"

"No..."

"Shit, it's getting so cold."

"Alex..."

"I'm OK. I'm OK."

Danny could see he was not OK. He kept messing with the handle of his cane, and the stress made him almost run - that could not be good for his limp, right? And he started shivering, like he was truly cold. And he started muttering, like trying to talk himself into warmth.

"Alex?"

"Ti?" Alex blinked at him for a moment but shook his head. "Sorry, I tend to speak in other languages when I'm distracted. What?"

"I was just checking on you... what did you say? How many languages do you speak?"

"Some." Alex's shrug didn't do anything to calm Danny down. "I'm fine, except for the cold. Do you think it's an indicator of something?"

"Well..." Coach passed by them, his breath solidifying as if he were inside a refrigerator, yelling after Greenberg. "Yeah, I think it is an indicator."

"Damn, that means I'm affected. Danny, go away."

"What? No!"

"Think of it as a disease, and we don't know how it spreads. I don't want you to get infected."

"It's not a disease..."

"It's massive hysteria! It has to be a disease!"

Sometimes Danny hated knowing about magic and not being able to tell anyone about it. He needed to find McCall and the others - but he didn't want to out himself to them.

"Danny, just go! Get somewhere safe. I won't blame you or anything"

"You are rambling."

Something shifted in Alex's eyes, and Danny realized he was no longer paying attention to him, but to something in the woods. Danny could smell the cold and the decay coming.

"Pater... No, I shouldn't... Danny, go, please, go!"

Alex was crying now. If Danny were to see him, he would be violating something Alex wasn't ready to share. Just like he wasn't ready to share magic with him.

So he kissed him and ran.

He ran to the parking lot and got into his car. He turned the radio to see if there was any report or any sort of sanity.

'The Sheriff's Department is advising all residents to stay in their homes...'

'Be careful! These are constructs of the Devil, we are not to heed their...'

'Why hasn't anyone contacted the CDC? This is clearly a...'

'What are they going to blame for this? Another animal attack? Beacon Hills is certainly under attack of something bigger...'

Danny just turned it off. His mother would kill him if she found out that he was texting and driving but at that moment he didn't care.

'Mom, do you have any idea what's going on? Ghosts are everywhere. I can't find the werewolves, I don't think they are involved.'

He fumbled with the heating since the car was a bit too cold for his liking.

"Hey Danny."

The cellphone slipped through his hand. He tried to steel himself - even if his heartbeat had already betrayed him.

"Ethan."

Danny waited for the red light to grab his cellphone. Ethan just looked at him.

"What are you doing, Danny? You are seeing me now, there's no way you can escape me."

"I know you are not real."

"Then what am I, Danny? The product of some sort of massive hysteria?"

"You're a ghost, that doesn't mean you get to haunt me."

"You know, Aiden always said you were too soft, like a bunny, but I knew you could give a bite."

"Ugh, don't go there, please. I'm not in the mood for werewolf jokes."

"You knew. And yet you dated me."

"Of course I knew, you thought I didn't find suspicious that you hit on me the day you got to school? Yes, for completely different reasons, but I was suspicious of you."

"Ah, yes, the singing... and yet here you are, in the middle of the supernatural phenomena."

"Shut up."

"Why? Are you afraid of me?"

Danny swerved to avoid hitting a car that was coming in the wrong lane. He immediately parked and turned the heat up - even if he knew it was useless - the cold was as natural as a coke.

"What do you want?"

"Wow, I came here from the great divide to say hi and you treat me like a beast? How lovely, boyfriend."

"More like a mongrel, actually, a stray dog that can't seem to leave. What are you doing here?"

"I heard you. At my funeral. How you cried, how you sobbed in Lydia's shoulder and said you loved me. Well, I wanted to say how much I love you, how much sorry I am but with you treating me like this? I'm not sure I should."

"Good, then go."

Danny got off the car. He wasn't so far from his house now, he could walk it - run, if it was necessary.

"Really, Danny, you are hurting my feelings."

"You are an incomplete ghost - I'm not sure you have feelings."

"Incomplete?"

"I can see you - there's stuff missing."

The moonlight let him see the little holes, the bits and pieces that were not there. Like tiles removed from a flooring.

"Well, I can assure you, all the good parts came with me."

"That's disgusting - I am not a necrophiliac."

The salacious gesture his former boyfriend was making was getting to him. There was something perverted with this version of Ethan and it was doing what it was supposed to do: rattle him to the core.

"Oh, come on! You liked it before. You were definitely much more than I wanted."

Danny closed his eyes, summoning what little protection he could in the middle of the day.

"Oh, now you are singing for me? I'm touched."

"I'm singing because of you."

"And yet you sing weakly. You haven't woken up, have you, little rabbit?"

"I won't awaken myself to escape a poor construct of a ghost."

"So you are aware of your powers. And you were aware of me."

"Are you just wasting my time?"

Ethan's ghost - whatever - was getting enraged. He was evidently trying to break Danny down.

He didn't have time for this shit.

"Get out."

"Oh no, babe, not until I get what I came from."

"And what's that?"

Ethan's eyes turned red. His fangs elongated. His smile leered.

"You."

Danny was a very good lacrosse player - he was able to duck under Ethan and roll out running. He knew he wouldn't get much advantage against the ghost of a werewolf but he had to try.

He could hear Ethan's laugh on his back.

"Come on, Danny! All I want to do is to bring you with me!"

Danny was not going to die in the middle of the street by the bite of his death boyfriend. He hated to admit it but Jackson was right, he had ahorrible taste in boyfriends. Get yourself a grip, he thought, this is not the moment to think about that asshole.

He wished he had given him the porsche - it's not like he took it to London!

He had always had the little precognition all moonsingers seemed to be born with, whether they became full priests or not. It was the main reason why he was a great goalie - he could anticipate the movement of the ball pretty well until McCall and Lahey - Scott and Isaac, you are hanging out with them now - came in and threw of his game since his instict wanted to follow them rather than the ball. It was also the reason why he was able to avoid Ethan even when he was chasing him from the back - he knew exactly when and where he would jump and he could avoid him easily.

He was able to reach the fence of his house - the only one with a metallic fence - and close it behind him. The moon magic activated and Ethan's ghost stayed behind the bars, growling, like an animal in a cage.

Well, Danny was the one in the cage, but the metaphor applied.

"Mom! Grandpa! I have a ghost out here!"

"Danny!"

Danny went and hugged his grandpa while Ethan's ghost tried to cross the barrier.

"Danny, we need to get you inside, get better protections - he is haunting you and will be able to cross over the barrier."

"What, why? How?"

"He's connected to you. Whoever did this is very good - it's making the ghosts firmly attached to their victims." The fence rattled at Ethan's hand. "It's also allowing them to get physical."

"Do you think it's feeding on whatever happened a month ago?"

"Maybe - or it may be feeding on the magic of the woods, since they have no guardians either. Why did the Hales had to die? We were finally settled."

"We still don't know if they are after us, Father." Danny's mom had hugged him and checked on him. She glared at the ghost at her doorstep but he couldn't come in. "For all we know they are after the sanctuary woken. Or after the werewolves pelt."

"Can you not say that, mom, I hang out with them."

"I've told you to stay away."

"I can't - they are the only ones to befriend me now."

His mother just hugged him again and kissed him on the forehead.

"Come on, we need to see how we can break his bond with you. What about the boy - Alex?"

"He is affected too. He didn't want me to see. He made me go."

"Oh boy. Let's hope he's not dead by the time all this is over."


	7. Isaac (II)

Isaac was running as fast as he could. It was still pointless. His father would catch up with him, appear in front of him, a demonic sight that wanted to eat him alive before his brother would catch up with them and slam his ghostly body against it and hold him down, giving him a bit more of time to run in a different direction.

He never tripped since he had become a werewolf, but now he felt as if the woods were guiding him away from his father, opening paths where there weren't any, and he saw that none of the animals that he would usually encounter. Even if his father caught up with him he could see a new path in the forest and he could hear Camdem slamming onto him. So wild his imagination was running, afraid of his father.

After all, every time he reappeared he looked more demonic.

It was freaking the hell out of him.

"Isaac! I need you calm!"

'Listen to the soldier - give him strength.'

"What?"

"Like I said before, you brought me back. I need you to be strong - otherwise I'm weak! Go!"

His father was gone - it was now a creature with his face. That didn't make him any different from when he was alive, but at least Isaac didn't need to reconcile him with his good memories.

He stopped. He needed to stop.

"Iz, what - why are you stopping?"

"I need to be strong. I need to stop running."

"Iz?"

"You failure - let me get my hands on you and you'll learn!"

"No!"

Isaac closed his eyes - let the wolf see.

There it was, his connection to Camdem. He was drawing strength from his heart, just like he said - but he was also drawing from something else. Something that came through Isaac, true, but it was not his.

It was a sweet song, an operetta, high notes and vibratto tones. It reminded him of the woods around him, fogs and mist and water in the rivers along the preserve.

Magic that was ancient. Magic that was not his.

But it was also amplified. The woods were playing a part in this game. They were singing to him a song of power. A song he used to hear before, when he bowed to Derek. It had been a song that he could hear less and less, until that night when he returned to the lacrosse game and Scott, it had stopped. Now he could hear it loud and clear, but with a different tone. Like a new cover of that single that had been famous a couple decades before.

He felt his father's - no, the revenant's - fist punch him in the face. He opened his eyes and held the next hit before it connected. He felt the claws come out and he striked but the revenant was gone before he could do anything.

"Iz!"

"Camdem!"

His brother was by his side. He could feel the strength that he was pulling from him, but it was not a relinquish - it was something they shared.

"I can't touch him. It's because he's not physical - or his physical form is still not in this dimension."

"I know. I have been drawing strength from you, but I can't do much - I'm still only a human ghost and, well, he's something worse. The spell must be helping him. Whatever it's drawing from must be giving him more strength."

"What can we do?"

"What brought me here - can you summon it to give me more strength?"

"I don't even know what brought you here!"

'He's back.'

'Call him.'

'Use his strength.'

He felt it - and apparently Camdem did as well, since both of them turn their heads in the same direction - the Hale manor.

"Is that your Alpha?"

"Yeah, that must be Scott - how did you know?"

"I felt a tug - of power? I'm connected to you, maybe I'm just feeling what you're feeling?"

Isaac couldn't help but look bewildered.

Of course, that's when his father struck. Camdem dissolved in the same mist his father did when he struck him and Isaac felt himself flying until he crashed onto a tree. He shifted into his wolf form and growled at his father, but as much as he tried to hit him his strikes would only hit air while the revenant's would hit his flesh.

"You are nothing, I can't even call you a son of mine."

"I am not your son. Not anymore"

"Then you are just agreeing with me. You are nothing."

"I'm not nothing. I'm a werewolf."

"You are alone."

"I am not alone."

He howled.

He suddenly saw Scott, his eyes red. He wasn't even transformed and yet all his demeanor screamed wolf. He roared and it was with such strength the revenant dissolved. Scott immediately went to him and hugged him, and Isaac realized that while he had felt courageous with Camdem, now he felt more complete.

"Are you alright?"

"Yeah - well, no, he always comes back. We need to go."

"You two run, I'll try to distract him."

Camdem had appeared again, but before they could do anything the revenant was there one more time. He no longer looked like his father - he was a demon, a spectre from hell bent on destroying them, starting with his brother. And Isaac could not do anything but to will his brother to win, as if somehow the fact that his brother was connected to his heart could influence him somehow.

The revenant was about to strike Camdem again when he stopped it, with a clawed hand.

"Huh?"

"What the hell?"

Camdem kept attacking the revenant. Somehow, the more Isaac willed Camdem to be stronger, the more werewolf like the ghost of his brother became.

"I'm lisping. And pointy. What's going on?"

Isaac could see that Scott was as baffled as he was, but took his hand and flashed his eyes red.

"Take it!"

Camdem looked at him and in a very wolf-like gesture, bared his throat to Scott for a moment. Then he turned to the revenant, and suddenly he had the strength to face it. And Isaac knew that every single hit Camdem was taking at his father was every single hit he had received when he was alive. The wolf wanted to rip it apart and he was enjoying every moment of it.

"Iz! Enough!"

"Isaac..."

He heard both voices. His brother's. His alpha's.

The revenant was gone. He was giving in to his vengeance.

As soon as Scott let him go Camdem went back to human and not even a second after he was hugging him. Isaac just cried in his arms.

"I'm here, Iz. I'm here."

They saw the revenant form once more but before he could attack they felt a wave of power that took it away. So the others must have stopped the spell.

"Camdem..."

"Hey, hey, hey - I'm here, I'm not going anywhere. But you may want to let me go of this form - I'm draining you. You almost lost yourself to the wolf. Lycaeon's curse." Almost on cue, Isaac started to fall, weak at his knees. "Wow, easy, easy..."

"Cam..."

"I'm here. In your heart. You think I'm gonna leave you alone after that shit? Yeesh, you are a fucking beast, Iz, that's awesome!"

"You promise? You won't leave me alone?"

"You are not alone."

It had been Scott who said that. Camdem smiled at the both of them and disappeared with a rustle of the leaves in the ground. Scott came to him and pulled him into a hug that calmed his senses.

For a moment, Isaac was happy, like he had never been.

When Scott let go they both heard the banshee scream.


	8. Stiles (II)

"You are kidding, right? Death itself? Are you saying that the phenomenon of Death can take an anthropomorphic form and appear to bring judgement to those deemed proper by the Nemeton to guard it?"

"Exactly that."

Grandma Thea's voice was dark and sad when she answered him. He could hear Allison explaining 'anthropomorphic' to Scott on his side.

"But why? How?"

"Think of it, little lamb. A source of power every supernatural being can covet. There has to be a balance. If there is a guardian, what is to stop that guardian from taking the power to control the world? What is to stop everything else banding together to kill these guardians and take over the power? There are many beings you still don't know, many forces you still don't understand, and yes, Death is one of them. There are also gods, believes brought into form by the power of humanity. We are an interesting bunch, the homo genus."

"Humans, Scott. But in the general sense, us included."

"So you are saying that basically everything in American Gods is true?"

"I'm surprised Neil hasn't been smitten to death already, with all the things he's doing to piss of minor deities and such."

"Oh my God!"

"Careful, you are in a closer frequency to his radio station."

"Laura, stop teasing him!"

"Why? It's fun!"

"You are 27, act like it!"

Stiles just blinked at them.

"Can we get back on what's important, please? So you're saying that at some point we're gonna be more screwed."

"Maybe, maybe not. Maybe your judge will see all that you've done so far and will pass judgement quickly. After all, you are not common children."

"Yeah - thanks for that."

"Excuse me, Mrs. Hale, if we are in heaven, can we summon the Elder Hales? Maybe they can give us advice on whatever judgement we may receive?"

"It would be pointless, Allison, because the judge is different, and the situation is different. Besides, they probably don't want to be disturbed - we tried."

"Oh."

"What about you, Allison? How do you feel about all this?"

Stiles was about to retort that they needed to focus on the ghosts or the judgement but Scott put a hand on his mouth. He looked at his best friend and suddenly understood.

They were evaluating them.

So much for a first good impression.

"After all, you are going against everything your family stands for."

"I don't know if that's true, Ms. Hale. Yes, my family was twisted and messed up, but if any I learned everything from my Dad, and he was always pretty clear about the old code. Nous chasson ceux qui nous chassent. Thing is, it was very easy for my family to try and force you onto them, so they would have the excuse that you were chasing them and freely hunt you. I listened to Gerard's story, and I knew it was a huge amount of bull crap just by looking at Derek and Scott.

That's why I changed the code, at least for me and my dad. Nous protegeons ceux que ne c'est peut pas proteger. Because we are not killers. We are not even predators. We are guardians. Besides, they say that it's not the family you are born with, but the family you choose, the one that matters. These two here - and Lydia, and Isaac, and Derek and Cora, they are the family I chose. They are the family I care about."

Talia Hale smiled at Allison brightly.

"Wait, does this mean we pass?"

"You pass what, Stiles?"

"Oh, come on, this was a test of some sort, wasn't it?"

"As much as Scott was panicking at listening to you put your feet in your mouth every single time you opened it no, because we are not judges or anything like that. But I won't deny that we can rest in peace now that we know our territory is going to be truly guarded and by people who are worth it."

They were sitting in the living room now, chocolate cake and coffee in little platters and cups in front of everyone.

"How does it work? What's the territory? How far does it go?"

"How far does it go will be pretty easy for you to spot, just by mere scent in the case of Scott, and you will feel a pull whenever you start leaving it. The main thing about Beacon Hills is that the Nemeton rests in the point where most of the ley lines converge, but the woods, having grown out of them, also have their own life. Their magic is deep, if probably not understood, and they will try and make sure you are helping them most of the time."

"The woods already started to obey me by the end - they tried to warn me against Peter but I didn't listen. When I moved on - at the end of your sophomore year - I let them know that the Hales were gone and that they should start looking at you as the new guardian. They are slow, like all the woods, so it may take a while, but they should obey you at some point."

"What can a bunch of trees do for us?"

"Do not understimate the magic of the woods, Stiles, you are after all training to become an emissary. You'll see."

"What about the ghosts?"

"That is work of witches. The Nemeton's magic was used to amplify a simple summoning spell - and modified to affect you."

"Yeah, we know that - how do we stop it?"

"There must be an object that is concentrating the magic - "

"A talisman."

"Yeah."

"But where?"

"Nearby something related to the ghosts."

"But the ghosts are not related among themselves. The graveyard?"

"No - Heather was cremated, so they couldn't have done used her grave for that."

"What about another ghost?"

"Sorry, Scott?"

"Greenberg. He's a revenant thirty years old, right? He's technically related to all of them since he's the one that has already come back."

"See, mom? I told you Derek was overreacting when he said Scott was a moron."

"So Greenberg is a talisman?"

"No. But the talisman is near Greenberg."

"The School! That's why we first saw the ghosts there!"

"We need to go." Scott turned to the Hales, who were looking at them like proud parents - even the little kid, Benjamin. "It was nice meeting you but - "

"No worries. We are satisfied. We like what we see."

"We'll need to talk later - you need to tell us more about this judgement or whatever."

"No, Stiles. This is it for us. We move on. You are on your own.

"What about Derek?" Scott asked before Stiles could.

"Could you let him know that we don't blame him? That we are at peace?"

"At some point he'll be at peace too. We may even be part of that moment, if he clears his heart from all the guilt he has inside."

"Now, go!"

Stiles woke up. He was in the porch of the Hale manor, where he had fell next to Allison and Scott. They were waking up as well. His cellphone vibrated.

"Lydia?"

"Stiles! Where are you? What's going on? Isaac left looking for you, and now I'm feeling weird, like I'm in two places at the same time..."

"Wait, what?"

In that moment, Scott snapped towards the woods.

"Isaac is in trouble."

"Go! We'll deal with the ghosts!"

Scott didn't wait until Allison finished before he was running towards the preserve.

"Lydia? Scott's going towards Isaac - what happened?"

"He started feeling affected by the ghosts and decided to run towards you. Did you guys find it?"

"No - but now we know where it is - in the school."

"The school?" Stiles could hear Lydia's pondering while he and Allison where getting inside the jeep - hadn't he parked it in the outskirts of the preserve? "Greenberg?"

"That's what we think - he's too old, he is a common factor for all the ghosts."

"He's also been feeding on the energy of a medium for all this time. It makes sense that the spell caster would try to use him as a gateway. I'll meet you guys there - are you sure Scott went for Isaac?"

"Yeah, and he was in full Alpha mode - we wouldn't be able to catch with him." Allison had taken the cellphone out of his hands and switched it to speakerphone mode. "Hopefully all Isaac needs is to be talken to, just like Deaton. How is he?"

"Still freezing, Morrell's still here but at least she is not speaking anymore, I managed to convince her to stop. See you in a bit."

Stiles was sure he broke at least fifteen driving laws but since the city seemed to be in complete chaos he was sure nobody noticed. He skid the car in the school's parking lot and he and Allison were getting out when a car he had never seen before parked right next to him, and Deaton and Lydia got out. Morrell was there too and Allison gasped when she saw her.

"You are physical now."

"Don't answer that, or you'll start another of your tirades of why Deaton sucks at living." The man looked ragged and despaired. He fumbled for his cellphone but Lydia stopped him. "I already checked with him - he's busy but he hasn't seen anyone. Apparently the ghosts need to harbor ill will against their haunted - and your father is a good guy, so unless the criminals he may have killed catch up with us..."

"Lydia, thanks for the thoughts. Greenberg!"

He appeared immediately. It was odd to see him teleport, forming from a bunch of white mist.

"Sorry I left you, Bobby was pulling me - his is still the magic I obey..."

"Doesn't matter - Greenberg, we think the witches may be using you to cast the spell, since you are the strongest ghost around."

"But I don't feel anything."

"Where are you buried?"

"The graveyard, where else?"

"Shit - we may need to go there."

"No. I know where they cast it. The bleachers." He dissolved again and they all ran towards the lacrosse field, Lydia shedding her heels. He spotted someone in a toga and Finstock crying in a corner, trying too hard not to listen to the chaos around him. When they got to the back they saw Greenberg looking at what looked like a lump on the ground. "Those bastards."

"What? Why?"

"They are desecrating the place where I died."

"You died here?"

"Yes."

"How?"

"Doesn't matter. Let's just say Danny is having it easy."

Lydia covered her hand with her mouth, Allison looked like she wanted to murder someone, and Stiles wasn't sure he would not retch himself. But he immediately started digging out with his hands, and sure enough, a mirror came out of it, blood dried in the form of several symbols and patterns. He looked at Deaton expectantly.

"How do we stop it? Can we just break it?"

"It should be enough."

"Are you sure?"

"He never is."

It was that look what made it, that hatred that Morrell used to belittle Deaton. Lydia took the mirror from his hands and smashed it on the floor. He immediately felt the energy rush, a wave that felt like an explosion, hot air and glass shards all around them. When he opened his eyes Greenberg was still there, but Morrell wasn't. And from the amount of noise in the school - sepulcral silence - all the ghosts were gone.

"They're gone. They're gone. Lydia - why are you still glowing?"

"I told you it was unrelated - wait, if I glow to you when people die..."

She stopped, gasping, like she was out of air. And then she wailed.

It had been the first time Stiles had actually listened Lydia wail. It was torture. He covered his ears but the piercing scream was inside his bones, inside his soul. He could feel the pain whoever had died went through, and he felt like he was feeling the pain of several people. He felt his throat slashed and the blood coming out of the wound.

If Lydia felt each death every time she screamed it was no wonder she was losing her mind because of it.

After an eternity of pain, Lydia stopped. He immediately tried to catch her but she fell all the way down, to her knees, and let herself puke. He could hear her mutter that it had been worse than before. He tried to massage her back, help her relax the muscles she had used.

It was Allison who screamed this time. They looked up.

Three bodies were hanging by their wrists from one of the night lights. One had his eyes gouged out, another had his ears chopped off and the third one, a woman, had her jaw removed and her tongue was missing. They all had their throats slit and it was obvious they had been bled.

Allison started sobbing.

"Allison?"

"Those... those are the hunters that visited us. That were going to check the witches in Seattle."


	9. Epilogue

"Federal Bureau of Investigations."

"Hello, this is Agent Rafael McCall calling from a public line. I am requesting contact with Michael Casper."

"I need your code of authentication please."

"Whiskey. Oscar. Lima. Foxtrot. One. Nine. Eight. Five."

"Code confirmed. Line will be transferred. This is a reminder that this line is not secure and therefore critical information should be withhold until safer ways to contact the Bureau are achieved. Please hold."

Rafael looked around the street. It had been pretty weird that such a small town as Beacon Hills still had a working public phone, but it did, and he couldn't ask for more. So many were enthralled by the new technologies that they didn't know how easy it was to hack into them and how open they were for the scrutiny of those who minded. No, sometimes a good hard line was better than the newest gizmo in the market.

The phone's location, however, meant that he had to get drenched in the very unusual storm for the last day of October. He quickly adjusted his trenchcoat and waited.

"This is Casper."

"Agent McCall."

"Rafe. Still chasing ghosts in that old town of yours?"

"Not chasing them, sir, but actually confirming them."

"Paranormal activity can be confirmed?"

"Yes, sir. At least one active werewolf. I was not able to catch him, but I know who he is and where he lives."

"Anything else?"

"I presume the presence of witches. Tonight the town was affected by what can only be described a spell of wide magnitude."

"Goal of the spell?"

"Ghosts."

"Sorry for the joke, in that case."

"It's alright."

"Are you OK, Rafe?"

"I'm good, Mike, I'm good. It didn't affect me."

"Alright, tell me what you need."

"I need more people in town sir. This place is ridiculous. Everywhere I go something can be correlated to the supernatural, and the more people come to this town, the more supernatural things appear."

"Do you believe there is a reason for the amount of supernatural occurences?"

"Not that I am aware of, sir."

"Have you tried to reach the local enforcers? The Hale family?"

"All deceased, the last two survivors are no longer members of the community."

"Well, we'll have to look into their history, see why they were accepted by the bureau as local enforcers. You'll get a team in the next couple of days, you'll have to prep them though."

"Understood."

Rafael put the speaker back in place. He looked at the pictures he had managed to take that night: they showed the Lahey kid being chased by what can only be described as an ectoplasmic construct, then protected by another one. They also showed him in the human phase of the lycan transmutation. Whatever the kid had seen had been bad enough to make him lose control.

He would have to go after him. He was not going to let him hurt Melissa or Scott.


End file.
